Sound of Gaming

In this month’s episode of Sound of Gaming, Louise Blain carefully packs her bags to go on a journey through the soundtracks of the best survival games. These are the games where we have to carefully manage our scarce resources, forage for supplies, and craft tools and weapons to stay alive. From the dangers of the night in Don’t Starve - where our task is exactly as the title suggests - to attemp...

Join Louise Blain as she journeys into the world of video game monsters. At times terrifying, fantastical or actually, just plain cute, these creatures often inspire developers and composers to some of their best music. We’ll meet every creature: dinosaurs, Pokemon to hungry sharks. And, in our cut-scene, British composer Ben MacDougall takes us through the several musical worlds that comprise the...

Louise Blain with gaming music inspired by the world history and civilisation marking the launch of 'Humankind' with a new score by Arnaud Roy. Louise looks at how world history has been potent source of inspiration for game designers and looks at the pains to which some games and their composers have gone to in order to bring the past alive. Featured soundtracks include 'Far Cry: Primal', 'Rome:...

Louise Blain looks at music for games which reflect some of the darker aspects of the fantasy realm and probes the hybrid world of Metroidvania. And she's joined by composer Gareth Coker who talks about creating the score for the two 'Ori' games and also the light-hearted venture into Greek mythology, 'Immortals - Fenyx Rising'. Featured scores in the programme include Salt and Sanctuary, Nioh 2,...

Louise Blain features conducive gaming music with which to chill - and perhaps set the world to rights - and she meets composer Ilan Eshkeri to talk about his music for Sims 4.

Louise Blain focuses on the theme of horror in gaming music, including Little Nightmares, Silent Hill, Dying Light and the Resident Evil series. Louise meets composer Jason Graves to talk about his music for Dead Space 2 and Until Dawn, and about his musical creation known as “The Instrument”. Also in the programme, a sneak preview of Bobby Krlic’s new score for the forthcoming release, Returnal.

Louise Blain scopes into one of gaming's great pleasures: the acquisition and wielding of special powers, from telelekinesis to shapeshifting, teleportation and spider-sense. Including a cut-scene interview with Inon Zur, composer of the brand new Outriders game.

Louise Blain reflects on this week’s 2021 Bafta Gaming Awards, talking with the nominees and featuring the music - considering them as a possible litmus test on the shape of gaming in the 2020s. Music featured in the programme is taken from the nominees for the Best Gaming Music category, which are: GHOST OF TSUSHIMA by Ilan Eshkeri, Shigeru Umebayashi, Peter Scaturro; HADES by Darren Korb; THE LA...

Jumping, climbing, running, Louise Blain focuses on music for platform games, from Donkey Kong and Mario to the present day. Lena Raine, composer of the award-winning 2018 game ’Celeste’ joins the programme to talk about that and some of her more recent work, and there’s music from Rayman Legends, Cuphead, and Ori and the Blind Forest.

Music for a gallery of gaming villains and, in particular, Boss Scores - the underscore and themes for the final nemesis between player and antagonist. And we also showcase some of the quieter music that prepares the player for their biggest battles. This week's edition includes a cut-scene interview with Stuart Chatwood, the composer of Darkest Dungeon and Prince of Persia. Presented by Louise Bl...

With the release of the eagerly awaited Cyberpunk 2077, Louise Blain immerses herself among the sounds of RPG (Role Play Games) and meets composer Marcin Przybylowicz. Role Playing Games are some of the most creative and empowering gaming environments that there are. Games which let the player pursue a fictitious destiny as someone other themselves Where they get to choose and sometimes even creat...

There are many theatres of war, a fact not lost on the gaming world. Louise Blain meets Call of Duty composer Jack Wall and looks at how the score helps bring these games to life.

It's a useful attribute for the gamer and a whole sub-genre of gaming. Louise Blain does 'stealth' and looks at The Pathless, released this week, with a new score by guest, Austin Wintory

Sound of Gaming returns to Radio 3 with a much-anticipated mix featuring some of the very best and newest gaming soundtracks out there. And with new scores comes a new voice. In the first of two programmes, gaming journalist and music enthusiast, Louise Blain, guides us though the many worlds of ‘action adventure' games, as evoked by the music. She looks forward to the release this week of the lat...

Jessica Curry's adventure into the exhilarating, joyous world of video game music continues with guest Paul Wolinski of band 65daysofstatic. Music played in podcast: Yuka Kitamura - Soul of Cinder (Dark Souls III) Jonne Valtonen - Albion Online Main Theme (Albion Online) Disasterpeace - Vignette: Panacea (Hyper Light Drifter) Andreas Waldetoft - A New Dawn (Stellaris: Utopia) Garry Schyman - The O...

Jessica Curry with a special edition of Sound of Gaming looking at video game music on vinyl, including a special report from Newcastle vinyl store 'Chipfreq' plus chiptune and chat from composer Chipzel. Music played in podcast: Chipzel - Courtesy (Super Hexagon) Peter McConnell - Grim Fandango (Grim Fandango) Michiru Yamane - Castlevania Theme (Castlevania) Lena Raine - Sedate (ESC) Chipzel -New...

Jessica Curry continues her look at video game music with composer Wilbert Roget II. Music played in podcast: Wilbert Roget II - A Brotherhood of Heroes (Call of Duty: WWII) Christopher Tin - Baba Yetu (Civilisation IV), ft Soweto Gospel Choir. Christopher Young - The Saboteur Theme (The Saboteur) James Hannigan - Soviet March (Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3) Wilbert Roget II - Cobra in the He...

Jessica Curry with news of the winners at the 2020 Games Baftas, plus interviews with nominees for the music award. Music played in podcast: Bear McCreary - Deliverance (God of War) Bear McCreary - Ashes (God of War), ft. Eivor Andrew Prahlow - Timber Hearth (Outer Wilds) Petri Alanko - Loquitur Ahti Sequuntur (Control) Guy Jackson - I Picture You Before Me (Sea of Solitude) J.J. Ipsen - Green Sho...

Jessica Curry has the latest and greatest music for video games plus an interview with composer Sarah Schachner. Music played: Sarah Schachner - Return Of The Medjay (Assassin’s Creed Origins) Jessica Curry (arr by Materia Collective) - All the Earth (Everybody's Gone to the Rapture) Yoko Shimomura - The Other Promise (Kingdom Hearts II) Cœur De Pirate ‎– Final Breath (Child Of Light) Sarah Schach...

Jessica Curry has the latest and greatest music for video games. Composing duo The Flight have been behind the scores for Alien: Isolation, Assassin's Creed Odyssey and the Ivor Novello winning Horizon Zero Dawn, which really push the sonic boundaries of how games music can sound. Alexis Smith from the Flight joins Jessica in the studio to talk about how you collaborate on a game and why creating...

On Sound of Gaming we celebrate the greatest music from the best video games, but what about the almost hits? The should've-beens? The has-beens? What happens to the music when a game gets cancelled, a character is changed or a game is taken off the shelves? Today Sound of Gaming is dedicated to Lost Masterpieces - music that could have been heard by millions of players but instead has been lost t...

Jessica Curry has the latest and greatest music for video games. Composer Takeshi Furukawa emerged as one of the most exciting new voices in video game music with his Bafta-nominated score for The Last Guardian, a visually and aurally stunning story of a boy's friendship with a mythical beast. Furukawa-san chats about writing The Last Guardian, working with the London Symphony Orchestra for the ga...

Jessica Curry with the most exciting and inspiring video game music to open your ears and mind. Stand by for, amongst other things, a sonic reimagining of Debussy, a nursery rhyme murder mystery, Deep Space musical dystopia and much loved tracks from two classic franchises. Plus Jessica chats to French composer Olivier Deriviere. Known for his work on Assassin’s Creed IV: Freedom Cry, A Plague Tal...

Jessica Curry with the latest and greatest music for video games. Today she's joined by composer Winifred Phillips who has scored some of the biggest game franchises from Assassin's Creed III: Liberation to God of War to Little Big Planet. She's also written a handy composers guide on how to write game music. Jess and Winifred chat about writing for those huge franchises, the glory of live games m...

Jessica Curry celebrates the dazzling musical world of indie games. Most people have heard of the titans of video games - like FIFA, Mario, Call of Duty or Fortnite - but there's also a thriving indie scene pushing the boundaries of what games and their soundtracks can be. For an indie, no adventure is too small, too silly, too bizarre or too bittersweet - and often they dive deeper than huge game...